What is your favorite "Star Wars" score?

For my money, "Return of the Jedi" is the best "Star Wars" score. It's the most layered and complex score of the four films. At the time Williams composed it, he was already comfortable writing music for these movies, and had two movies worth of musical material to pull from. This makes for a much more rich and rewarding listening experience in my opinion. My favorite piece from this score is probably "The Return of the Jedi" (later titled "Sand Barge Battle" on the special edition soundtrack). Listen to that piece and notice how Williams masterfully interlaces several major themes throughout the track, all the while making it a very exciting action cue. It's without a doubt my favorite piece of "Star Wars" music.
"A New Hope" is a classic score which introduces several important motifs, but remains (to my ears at least) a relatively small and intimate piece when compared to the other three films. "Empire" is a more accomplished work, much larger in scope, and feels to me like the musical little brother to "Jedi". With "The Phantom Menace", Williams basically had to start from scratch with new themes (with some old ones sprinkled about appropriately), and because of this "Phantom Menace" has more in common musically with "A New Hope" than the other films. It will be interesting to see Williams build upon these new themes during the course of the prequel films.
So, what is your favorite "Star Wars" score? Detailed discussion is most welcome!

 

Interesting review. Care to look at mine?

http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=2335348&replies=9
Pweese?

~Sithman~
the sithiest J.E.D.I. around!

 

My favorite Star Wars score was when I got Debbie Matheson in the last row of the theater to yell like Krayt Dragon.

 

I read your review Sithman, and generally agree with most of it. "The Phantom Menace" score is very good, but even now it's hard for me to place it next to the original trilogy scores. I guess this comes from listening to those other scores for around 15 years. I'm sure my appreciation for the "Episode 1" score will deepen with time, but as it stands now it's definitely fourth in my list. I think it says alot that my favorite cues from the new score are the ones in which themes from the original trilogy appear. The only new cue to grab me was, of course, "Duel of the Fates", which I think is probably one of John Williams best works...period. As for the rest, it just didn't feel as distinctive as the other three scores. But, like I said I'll probably need another 5 or 6 years to fully develop a great appreciation for the music.

 

Lord Maully Maul,
I have difficulty believing that anyone who would use the term "yell like a Krayt Dragon" to describe shrieks of pleasure has scored with anybody.

Yours in bad taste...

 

I don't have a big review with me, but without a doubt, my favorite Star Wars score is The Empire Strikes Back.

 

What SotS said.

 

D'oh!

 

I'd have to agree that ESB is my favorite, but all the others are very close behind.

 

ESB and ROTJ. I cannot chose between the two of them. ESB because of the wonderful flow of the music. ROTJ for its complexity and its wonderful versions of the Force theme.

 

By far it must be ROTJ nuff said!

 

1. TPM

2. ANH

3. ESB & RotJ




But they're all GREAT